CATALOGUE OF TESTIMONIES
Both of Scripture and Orthodox Antiquity
III.
64] That, first of all, the Holy Scriptures, and then also the holy fathers of
the ancient pure Church, speak concerning this mystery also per vocabula
abstracta, that is, in such words as expressly indicate the human nature in
Christ, and refer to the same in the personal union, namely, that the human
nature actually and truly has received and uses such majesty:
65] John 6,54.55: Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal
life.... For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
66] 1 John 1,7: The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
67] Heb. 9,14: The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, purges your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God.
68] Matt. 26,26-28: Take eat; this is My body.... Drink ye all of it; for this
is My blood of the new testament.
69] EUSTACHIUS, quoted by Theodoret, Dialog 2 (p. 40): "Therefore he
prophesied that He [Christ the man, the human nature of Christ] would sit upon
a holy throne, signifying that He has made Himself known as sharing the throne
with the most Divine Spirit, on account of God's dwelling inseparably in Him."
70] The same, quoted in Gelasius: "The man Christ, who increased in wisdom,
age, and favor, received the dominion of all things."
71] the same, in the same place: "Christ, in His very body, came to His
apostles, saying: 'All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth'; which
power the external temple received, and not God, [namely, according to His
divinity], who built that temple [of His body] of extraordinary beauty."
72] ATHANASIUS, On the Arian and Catholic Confession (t. 2, op. p. 579, ed.
Colon.): "God was not changed into human flesh or substance, but in Himself
glorified the nature which He assumed, so that the human, weak, and mortal
flesh and nature advanced to [obtained] divine glory, so as to have all power
in heaven and in earth, which it did not have before it was assumed by the
Word."
73] The same (l. c., pp. 597 and 603), On the Assumed Humanity, against
Apollinarius (p. 530): Paul, Phil. 2, speaks of a [His] temple which is His
body. For not He who is the Highest, but the flesh, is exalted; and to his
flesh He gave a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord,
to the glory of the Father. And he adds a general rule: When Scripture speaks
of the glorification of Christ, it speaks of the flesh, which has received
glory. And whatever Scripture says that the Son has received, it declares
with respect to His humanity, and not to His divinity; as, when the apostle
says that in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, we must
understand that this fullness dwells in the flesh of Christ.
74] The same, quoted by Theodoret, Dialog 2 (t. 3, p. 286): "'Sit on My right
hand,' has been said to the Lord's body." Also: "It is therefore the body to
which He says, 'Sit on My right hand.'"
75] ATHANASIUS, On the Incarnation, as quoted in Cyril in his Defense of the
8th Anathema, and in his book, On the True Faith to the Queens: "If any one
says that the flesh of our Lord as that of a man is inadorable, and is not to
be worshiped as the flesh of the Lord and God, him the Holy Catholic Church
anathematizes."
76] The same, On Humanity Assumed (p. 603, ed. Colon.): "Whatever Scripture
says that the Son has received, it understands as having been received with
respect to His body, and that this body is the first-fruits of the Church.
The Lord therefore first raised and exalted His body, but afterward also the
members of His body."
77] HILARY, lib. 9 (p. 136): "That thus the man Jesus remained in the glory of
God the Father, if the flesh had been united to the glory of the Word, and the
assumed flesh possessed the glory of the Word." (Concrete for abstract.)
78] EUSEBIUS OF EMISSA, in his homily of the Sixth Holiday after Easter (Feria
6, paschatos in homiliis 5, patrum, p. 297): "He who, according to His
divinity, had always, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, power over all
things, now also according to His humanity has received power over all things,
so that this man who suffered not long ago rules over heaven and earth, yea,
does here and there whatever He wishes."
79] GREGORY OF NYSSA, quoted by Gelasius and Theodoret, Dialog 2 (t. 2., p.
333): "'Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God' [Acts 2,33]. Who,
then, was exalted? The lowly one or the Highest? But what is lowly if not
the human? What else besides the divine is the Highest? But God, being the
Highest, does not need to be exalted. Therefore, the apostle says that the
human [nature] was exalted, and that it was exalted by becoming Lord and
Christ. Therefore, by the words He has made the apostle does not express the
premundane [eternal] subsistence of the Lord, but the advancement of that
which is low to the Highest, namely, to the right hand of God."
80] And shortly afterwards: "Because the right hand of God, the Creator of all
things that exist, which is the Lord, by whom all things were made, and
without whom nothing of those things that were made subsist, has itself,
through the union, raised up to its own height the man who has been united
with it."
81] BASIL THE GREAT, Against Eunomius, lib. 2, p. 661): "[When Peter, Acts 2,
says:] 'God hath evidently made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both
Lord and Christ,' by the demonstrative word [that same] he applies himself
almost entirely to His human nature, seen by all." Shortly afterwards: "So
that in saying, 'God hath made Him both Lord and Christ,' he says that power
and dominion over all things were entrusted to Him [to the humanity] by the
Father."
82] EPIPHANIUS, Against the Ariomanites (p. 327, t. 1; fol. 728, ed. Paris,
1638): "[Peter, by adding:] 'This same Jesus whom ye crucified' [indicates the
incarnation of the Lord, and it is manifest that he is speaking of the flesh],
in order that the holy incarnate dispensation might not be left by the
impassible and uncreated Word, but might be united above to the uncreated
Word. On this account God made that which was conceived of Mary and united to
Deity both Lord and Christ."
83] AMBROSE, lib. 3, cap. 12, Of the Holy Ghost (t. 2, p. 157 [fol. 765, ed.
Colon.]): "The angels adore not only the divinity of Christ, but also His
footstool." And afterwards: "The prophet says that the earth which the Lord
Jesus took upon Himself in the assumption of the flesh is to be adored.
Therefore by footstool the earth is understood, but by earth the flesh of
Christ, which we to-day also adore in the mysteries, and which the apostles
adored in the Lord Jesus, as we have said above."
84] AUGUSTINE, Of the Words of the Lord, Discourse 58 (t. 10, p. 217): "If
Christ is not God by nature, but a creature, He is neither to be worshiped nor
adored as God. But to these things they will reply and say: Why, then, is it
that you adore with His divinity His flesh, which you do not deny to be a
creature, and are no less devoted to it than to Deity?"
85] The same, on Ps. 99,5 (t. 8, p. 1103): "'Worship His footstool.' His
footstool is the earth, and Christ took upon Him earth of earth, because flesh
is of earth; and He received flesh of the flesh of Mary. And because He
walked here in this very flesh, he also gave this very flesh to be eaten by us
for salvation. But no one eats that flesh unless He has first worshiped it.
Therefore the way has been found how such footstool of the Lord may be
worshiped, so that we not only do not sin by worshiping, but sin by not
worshiping."
86] CHRYSOSTOM, on Heb. 2 (p. 125): "For it is really great and wonderful and
full of awe that our flesh should be seated above, and be worshiped by angels
and archangels and by the seraphim and cherubim. Reflecting upon this, I am
often entranced [seem to be beside myself]."
87] The same on I Cor. 10 (p. 174, t. 6, p. 740, and t. 5, p. 261, ed.
Frankf.): "This body, even when lying in the manger, the Magi worshiped, etc.;
and they took a long journey; and having come, they worshiped with much fear
and trembling."
88] The same, in Epist. 65 to Leo: "Let us learn to know which nature it is to
which the Father said, Share My seat. It is that nature to which it has been
said, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'"
89] THEOPHYLACT, from Chrysostom, on chap 28 of Matt. (p. 311 [ed. Lutet., 8,
1631, fols. 184. 605]): "Since the human nature, but recently condemned,
united in person with God the Word, is seated in heaven, worshiped by angels,
He says properly: 'All power is given unto Me in heaven.' For also the human
nature, which but recently served, now in Christ rules over all things."
90] The same, on chap. 3 of John: "He has also given all things into the hand
of the Son, according to His humanity."
91] CYRIL, On the Incarnation, cap. 11 (t. 4, p. 241; t. 5, p. 695): "The Word
introduced Himself into that which He was not, in order that the nature of man
also might become what it was not, resplendent, by its union, with the
grandeur of divine majesty, which has been raised beyond nature rather than
that it has cast the unchangeable God beneath [its] nature."
92] Council of Ephesus (Cyril, t. 4, p. 140 [Apologet, adv. Orient., t. 6,
fol. 196]), in Canon 11: "If any one does not confess that the flesh of the
Lord is quickening, because it was made the Word's own, who quickens all
things, let him be anathema."
93] Cyril also (ibid., p. 140; t. 4, p. 85), in his explanation of this
anathematization, says that Nestorius was unwilling to ascribe quickening to
the flesh of Christ, but explained the passages in John 6 as referring to the
divinity alone."
94] THEODORET, Dialog 2: "And it (the body of the Lord) was deemed worthy of
the seat of the right hand, and is worshiped by every creature, as it is
called the body of the Lord of Nature [the body of God]."
95] The same, on Ps. 8: "Such honor, namely, dominion over the universe, the
human nature in Christ has received of God."
96] LEO (fol. 94 [Ep. 25, fol. 246]), Epist. 11: "It is a promotion of that
which is assumed [man], and not of Him who assumes [God], that God has exalted
Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father."
97] DAMASCENUS, lib. 3, cap. 18 (p. 251): "Therefore His [Christ's] divine
will was both eternal and omnipotent, etc. But His human will not only began
in time, but also endured natural and unblamable affections, and indeed was
not omnipotent by nature; but as it has truly and by nature become the will of
God the Word, it is also omnipotent." This means, as explained by a
commentator: "The divine will has, by its own nature, the power to do all
things which it wishes; but Christ's human will does not have power to do
everything by its nature, but as united to God the Word."
98] The same, cap. 19: "The flesh has communion with the operating divinity of
the Word, because the divine operations are accomplished as through the organ
of the body, and because He that works both in a divine and human fashion is
one. For it is necessary to know that His holy mind works also its natural
operations, etc., shares in the working and managing and guiding divinity of
the Word, understanding and knowing and managing everything [the entire
universe], not as the mere mind of a man, but as personally united with God
and being constituted the mind of God."
99] The same, in the same book, cap. 21: "The human nature does not
essentially possess knowledge of the future; but the soul of the Lord, on
account of the union with the Word Himself and the personal identity, was,
apart from the other divine criteria, rich also in knowledge of the future."
100] At the end of the chapter: "We say that this Master and Lord of all
creation, the one Christ, who is at the same time God and man, knows also all
things. For in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
101] NICEPHORUS, lib. 18, cap. 36: "Christ is seen by His disciples on the
mountain in Galilee, and there asserts that the highest power in heaven and in
earth has, by the Father, been delivered Him, namely, according to His human
nature."
(continued in part 4... )
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